for private circulation only asbestos kills...

Toxics Dispatch No 27

Number 27 December 2005

IN THIS ISSUE

1 LEADER

� Asbestos kills everyone but us

2 EDITORIAL

4 FEATURES

� A waste of a technology

� Safe management of sharps waste

7 UPDATES

� ‘Mercury Teams’ to monitor mercury

usage in Delhi schools

� Mercury management in the Maldives:

Hithadhoo Hospital takes the lead

� CMAI holds workshop on legal issues

of hospital administration

� A great beginning for EEJP

� Workshop on POPs for South Asia

NGOs

� SWM gets under way at Defence

Colony and Gautampuri

10� News

� Events

11� Profile: Samuha Vikas, Orissa

� Resources

12� Factfile

On June 29, 2005, a spokesperson

for Kubota Corporation, an indus-

trial equipment manufacturer based

in Osaka, Japan, confirmed the asbestos

deaths of scores of former employees.

Kubota executive Taichi Ito told reporters,

“We followed laws and regulations prop-

erly (at that time), but it is extremely regret-

table that the health of local residents was

harmed.”

The next day, officials at the Health,

Labour and Welfare Ministry of Japan an-

nounced their intention to look into the la-

bour conditions that led to these deaths. The

news of the death of 86 former employees

of another company, Nichias Corporation,

due to asbestos-related disease since 1976

attracted media attention throughout Japan

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Asbestos kills everyone but us

Continued on page 2

in July 2005. There are several other Japa-

nese companies which have recently dis-

closed asbestos deaths amongst their

workforce.

As a result, Japan has wisely banned as-

bestos use in principle, except in cases where

there are no substitutes. Asbestos is, there-

fore, still used in gaskets for machinery, in-

sulating plates on switchboards, seals at

chemical plants and ropes for industrial use.

Responding to the reports, the Japanese

Health Ministry plans to completely ban

the use of asbestos by 2008. Japan joins

countries like Australia, Uruguay, the Eu-

ropean Union, Honduras and others which

have banned asbestos.

Country after country is banning asbestos because of its confirmedstatus as a killer. But the Indian government deems that asbestosdoes not harm Indian workers and citizens

Toxics Dispatch No 27 2

INDIA’S SIGNING THE STOCKHOLM CONVENTION would

imply that we are now joining the global regime for chemicals

safety. Currently, a battery of conventions outlines the

framework of making our planet safer from toxics. These

include the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary

Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the

Rotterdam or PIC (Prior Informed Consent) Convention on

hazardous chemicals which are traded internationally and now

the Stockholm Convention which deals with the class of

chemicals called POPs or Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Similarly, there are several regional treaties that prohibit the

dumping of hazardous waste into the oceans like the London

Dumping Convention.

Over the past 15 years, post the Rio Summit, these

internationally legally binding treaties have outlined some key

principles, such as the precautionary approach, the concept of

producer liability, the idea of using safer alternatives or best

available techniques, information sharing, etc, which have been

negotiated hard and long by the international community

(with the NGOs egging them on!).

The world is clearly divided between those with the most

industrial interest (countries such as the USA, Canada, Japan

and Australia) and the others who have been the victims, such

as nations from Africa, Asia, Latin America, etc.

However, of late, India’s position in these treaties, which

was earlier that of the leader of the developing countries, often

banded together as G-77 (and China), has been moving from

environmental protection to that of trade protection – clearly a

reflection of the changing nature of economic development in

the country. Rather than negotiate for a cleaner development

process, we have been arguing for a ‘right to development at

any cost’ and often are reluctant to take progressive stances.

With the possible ratification of the POPs Convention in 2006,

it is hoped that India will move towards marrying environmen-

tal focusses with its other agendas and realise that industry

can no longer hide under the cloak of unquestioned protection.

However, the question is still open, whether our develop-

ment will be ‘clean’, or whether we will continue to throw

all caution to the winds and not learn from the painful lessons

of the West.

Ravi Agarwal

Cleaning up our actAgainst this backdrop, the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), a

subordinate office of the Union Ministry of Mines, deems that

asbestos does not harm Indian workers and citizens. In fact, plans

are afoot to lift the ban on asbestos mining.

This is despite the fact that the Union Ministry of Health had

informed the Parliament in 2003 that studies by the National In-

stitute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, had shown that ex-

posure to any type of asbestos can lead to the development of as-

bestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

White asbestos continues to be used in India; blue and brown

asbestos are banned here. About 1 lakh workers are directly ex-

posed and 3 crore construction workers are being subjected to as-

bestos dust on a daily basis. Even common citizens are at risk of

exposure.

Indian scenarioThe Indian Government’s signal to promote asbestos has out-

raged environmental, labour, consumer and human rights groups

in the country. Grants of fresh mining leases and renewal of exist-

ing mining leases for asbestos are currently banned in India on

health grounds but the Union Ministry of Commerce continues to

import asbestos from countries like Canada. In Canada, there is a

no-home-use policy for asbestos. It has lost its case in the World

Trade Organisation (WTO) where it argued for continuing the

trade of white asbestos.

Unmindful of the fact that poison does not become non-poison-

ous as a result of advertising or public relations campaigns and

dubious scientific studies, the Canadian government has announced

its continuing support for the ‘safe and responsible use’ of white

asbestos. It renewed its funding to the Montreal-based Asbestos

Institute for the promotion of white asbestos throughout the world.

It has also earmarked $775,000 for the promotion of asbestos.

Consequently, the asbestos industry in India has flooded national

dailies and television channels with sponsored features, advertise-

ments and studies to promote the ‘safe’ and ‘controlled use’ of

white asbestos cement.

Status of asbestos in government recordsIn India, the total use of asbestos is 1.25 lakh tonnes, of which

more than 1 lakh tonnes is being imported. Significant occupa-

tional exposure to asbestos occurs mainly in asbestos cement facto-

ries, the asbestos textile industry and during asbestos mining and

milling. The National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH)

has carried out studies in all these industries and generated base-

line data. A summary of these studies follows.

Asbestos cement factories

There are 18 asbestos cement factories located in different parts

of the country. NIOH carried out environmental epidemiological

studies in four asbestos cement factories located in Ahmedabad,

Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Mumbai. The prevalence of asbes-

tosis in these factories varies from 3 to 5 per cent.

Asbestos textile industry

Making of asbestos yarn and ropes is done mostly in the unor-

Continued from page 1


ganised sector of industries with very poor

safety measures. The prevalence of asbes-

tosis is 9 per cent in these industries. This

relatively low prevalence of asbestosis de-

spite high environmental levels is attributed

to a high labour turnover. Cases of asbesto-

sis were observed in workers having less than

10 years exposure in contrast to the reported

average duration of over 20 years.

Dr Qamar Rahman of the Industrial

Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, a

body under the Union Ministry of Science

and Technology, has conducted detailed

studies on the illegal mining and milling of

asbestos in Rajasthan. She has reported that

workers in these illegal mines are exposed

to very high asbestos fibre concentrations.

They do not use gloves, masks or any other

protective clothing. They use a primitive

manual method for grinding. “Clinical stud-

ies revealed prevalence of a large number

of asbestosis cases. In some cases, asbesto-

sis had developed in less than five years.

Under such alarming conditions, lifting the

ban on asbestos mining would be a disaster

for the workers,” says Dr Rahman.

In a survey of UP Asbestos Limited,

Mohanlalganj, Lucknow and Allied Nip-

pon Pvt Ltd, Ghaziabad (UP), lung func-

tion impairment was found to be higher in

subjects exposed for more than 11 years.

This was the result of a Central Pollution

Control Board sponsored project entitled

‘Human risk assessment studies in asbestos

industries in India’.1

The Directorate General, Factory Ad-

vice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI),

Union Ministry of Labour, seems ignorant

of these studies, which concluded that even

in controlled conditions, asbestos workers

continued to suffer and it made no material

difference in their condition.2

Civil society, trade unions andhealth experts seek ban on asbestos

On April 13, 2002, the Indian Asso-

ciation of Occupational Health had passed

a resolution demanding an immediate ban

on all activities related to asbestos and its

products.

On November 8, 2004, preventable but

incurable diseases caused by asbestos were

taken note of by India’s central trade un-

ions who endorsed a resolution calling for

its ban. P.K. Ganguli of the Centre of In-

dian Trade Unions (CITU) said that at a

time when there is a worldwide movement

to get asbestos banned with the entire de-

veloped world having already banned it, it

was puzzling to note that the Indian Gov-

ernment is planning to lift the ban. He

warned that it would contribute to more

cancer and occupational hazards among

workers. “We demand that the government

should desist from lifting the ban on mining

of all forms of asbestos,” Ganguli said.

The Government has meanwhile re-

duced customs duties on asbestos. Earlier

the import duty on asbestos was reduced

from 110 per cent to 50 percent in 1992,

thus reducing the total import cost by 25-

30 per cent. India has also been reducing

the customs duty on asbestos fibre in recent

years (from 78 per cent in 1995-96 to 25

percent in 1999-2000). Fifty per cent of

the sales of asbestos cement are in the rural

sector, and 30 and 20 per cent in the in-

dustrial and urban sectors, respectively.

The Union Minister of State for Coal

and Mines, Dr Dasari Narayana Rao, in a

written reply in the Lok Sabha on April

29, 2005, announced the possibility of lift-

ing the ban on asbestos mining in the light

of a mining industry-supported study by the

Indian Bureau of Mines.

ConclusionBesides workers, even common citizens

are at a risk of exposure from asbestos, which

becomes airborne through wind erosion and

normal wear and tear. The epidemic of ill-

ness and death due to asbestos that is plagu-

ing the developed countries with an esti-

mated 30 deaths per day is being repeated

in India. India is using asbestos in exactly

the same way as the developed countries did

until about 1980. The danger from asbes-

tos was documented in India as early as

1968. Although there is indisputable evi-

dence that asbestos causes asbestosis, lung

cancer and mesothelioma, asbestos mining,

milling and manufacturing continues.

The result of widespread use of asbes-

tos in European countries, the United

States, Canada and other nations has re-

sulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths

and over a trillion dollars in personal and

property damage. But instead of learning

anything from the experience, the asbestos

companies from the developed world have

shifted most of their operations to countries

such as India, where there is little aware-

ness about the hazards of using asbestos.

The choice before the Indian Govern-

ment is clear – either it should ban the trade,

manufacture and use of all kinds of asbes-

tos or contiue to misinform its citizens that

while asbestos kills Japanese, Australians

and Europeans, it is harmless to Indians.

By Gopal Krishna

1 Reported in the Annual Report of Industrial

Toxicology Research Centre (2001-2002), India

2www.dgfasli.nic.in/newsletter/jan_march_96.pdf

� Water pipes or as roofing sheets in the

construction industry.

� Manufacture of pressure and non-

pressure pipes used for water supply,

sewage, irrigation and drainage system in

urban and rural areas

� Asbestos textiles

� Laminated products, tape, gland packing,

packing ropes, brake lining and jointing

used in core sector industries such as

automobile, heavy equipment, petro-

chemicals, nuclear and thermal power

plants, fertilisers, transportation, etc.

Main uses of asbestos


Taking note of the news report about

the closure of the Rs 84 crore Mu-

nicipal Solid Waste to Electricity

plant in Lucknow, on May 6, 2005, the Su-

preme Court of India gave an order that

stayed the sanction of any further subsidy

to proposed municipal Waste-to-Energy

(WTE) projects.

The court sought the inspection of the

functioning and the records of the Lucknow

plant and asked the Central Government

to constitute a committee for this purpose.

When the Centre commissioned the

plant, the projection was that it would gen-

erate 5 MW of electricity using bio-degra-

dable waste but the plant ended up gener-

ating a mere 0.3 MW to 0.5 MW of elec-

tricity. The committee submitted its report

by October 15, 2005 in the court. Sources

have revealed that the report does seem fine-

tuned to best waste management practices,

which environmental groups like Alliance

for Waste Management (AWM) have been

advocating. AWM had given a presenta-

tion to the committee on August 9, 2005

in Hyderabad amidst heated exchanges.

Glossing over the facts about the com-

position of Indian waste which has low calo-

rific value and hence is unsuitable for elec-

tricity generation, ministries in the Central

Government continue to waste public

money experimenting with this technology.

ing waste which is mostly organic can be

processed in several ways like composting

or conversion into biogas.

Conflict of interestand contempt of court

In view of the predictable failures, squan-

dering of public money and lack of account-

ability, as per the court order, the Central

Government constituted a committee of

experts to inspect the functioning of the

waste-to-energy plants with a focus on the

Lucknow-based plant. The main purpose

of such an independent non-governmental

committee’s review was to investigate the

propriety and need for ongoing massive sub-

sidies for technically and economically

unviable municipal WTE projects in the

country. The promotion of such wasteful

projects is beginning to resemble a national

scam. Therefore, the court’s order stated,

“We hope that till the position is clear, the

Government would not sanction any further

subsidies [for municipal waste-to-electricity

(WTE) projects].”

Far from investigating and preventing

such potential abuse and despite the May

2005 court orders, the Committee consti-

tuted by the Union Ministry of Non-Con-

ventional Sources (MNES) has, in July

2005, announced and widely publicised

grants and subsidies for WTE, including

‘burn technologies’ that violate India’s in-

ternational commitments.

Interestingly, MNES, which is the very

Ministry that is to be investigated, has been

responsible for constituting the Committee.

An official of the ministry has been made

the Member-Secretary and several people

A waste of atechnology

Lucknow produces 1,200 metric tonnes

of waste per day but it was stated in the

report that the plant was shut down due to

lack of waste. No information on the project

was made public and the concerned central

authorities were secretive in their engage-

ment with a Supreme Court committee.

The court has taken note of the incin-

erator plants in Gangdumguda and Elikkta

villages in Andhra Pradesh.

Waste incineration represents the most

polluting solid waste management technol-

ogy. But an agreement has been signed by

the Municipal Corporation Delhi (MCD)

to generate electricity from waste despite the

failure of the Timarpur incinerator which

used the same technology. The agreement

between MCD and Infrastructure Leasing

and Financial Services Limited (IL&FSL)

for an incineration plant was signed on

March 14, 2005 despite massive protests

from civil society groups. The technology is

provided by Technology Information, Fore-

casting and Assessment Council (TIFAC),

a department of the Union Ministry of Sci-

ence and Technology.

A recent study estimates that recycling

saves almost Rs 17.6 crore per annum.

Other wastes like construction malba (which

can be up to 40 per cent by weight) can be

crushed and reused for reconstruction and

roads. Hazardous wastes such as e-waste,

healthcare waste, broken thermometers,

fluorescent tubes, etc, must be separated and

returned to the manufacturer. The remain-


who directly or indirectly benefit from WTE

promotion and the subsidies have been in-

cluded in the Committee. Therefore, there

is a fundamental conflict of interest.

In such a scenario, there is a need to

reconstitute the Committee. Recently, the

Parliamentary Standing Committee delib-

erating amendment of the Contempt of

Courts Act also expressed the hope that

a person against whom an allegation has

been made will not himself or herself sit in

judgment. So a subsidy provider cannot

investigate its own subsidy regime.

Caught in a time warpUnmindful of the fact that waste incin-

erator technologies are net energy losers

when the embodied energy of the materials

burned is accounted for, the MNES is pro-

moting it without any success.

The new committee can examine as to

why it is doing so. Gurudas Kamat, the

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Energy, has also written to

the MNES seeking a review of its WTE

Committee. The AWM has briefed him

about the obsolete disposal technologies. In

his letter, Mr Kamat has supported a ban

on economic incentives for such WTE

projects with specific reference to the

Andhra Pradesh projects.

Researchers of waste suggest that

composting and recycling materials is a bet-

ter alternative from the standpoint of net

energy generated by incineration. Waste in-

cineration encourages a one-way flow of ma-

terials on a finite planet, thus making the

task of conserving resources and reducing

waste more difficult. On one occasion, Dr

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the President rightly

summed up the need for Integrated Zero

Waste Management. He illustrated it by

referring to a village of 2,400 families, which

generates garbage of over 48 tonnes per year.

This garbage is converted into manure and

recyclable waste generating over Rs 3 lakh

in revenue. This scheme provides employ-

ment to people of the panchayat. Such meas-

ures promote sustainable development as

against the current trend of introducing

failed polluting technologies, which turn

citizens into guinea pigs for experiments.

Waste incineration systems (including

waste pelletisation, pyrolysis and gasifica-

tion systems) produce pollutants, which are

detrimental to health and the environment.

They are expensive and do not eliminate or

adequately control the toxic emissions from

today’s chemically complex municipal dis-

cards. Even new incinerators release toxic

metals, dioxins and acid gases. Far from

eliminating the need for a landfill, waste

incinerator systems produce toxic ash and

other residues. Such projects disperse in-

cinerator ash throughout the environment

which eventually enter our food chain.

The proposition of the MNES to max-

imise energy recovery through WTE is tech-

nologically untenable, as it will lead to in-

creased dioxin emissions. Dioxins are the

most lethal Persistent Organic Pollutants

(POPs), and have irreparable environmen-

tal health consequences.

Incinerator technological intervention in

the waste stream distorts waste management.

Such systems rely on minimum guaranteed

waste flows. It indirectly promotes contin-

ued waste generation while hindering waste

prevention, reuse, composting, recycling and

recycling-based community economic devel-

opment. It costs cities and municipalities

more and provides fewer jobs than compre-

hensive recycling and composting. It also

prohibits the development of local recycling-

based businesses.

It is also contrary to national legislations

and norms such as Municipal Solid Waste

(Management & Handling) Rules, 2000

because according to these rules it is illegal

to incinerate chlorinated plastics (like PVC)

and wastes chemically treated with any chlo-

rinated disinfectant.

Contravening international treatiesThese WTE projects are being pro-

moted violating international environmen-

tal norms. For example, incineration of waste

violates the Kyoto Protocol which has iden-

tified waste incineration as an emitter of

greenhouse gases. Waste incineration also

violates the Stockholm Convention on

POPs which calls for improvements in waste

management with the aim of the cessation

of open and other uncontrolled burning of

wastes. Waste incineration also violates the

recommendations of the United Nations

Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s)

Global Assessment on Mercury which in-

cludes measures such as reducing or elimi-

nating the mercury emission from waste in-

cineration because unlike other heavy met-

als, mercury has special properties that make

it difficult to capture in many control de-

vices. It also violates the Dhaka Declara-

tion on Waste Management adopted by the

South Asian Association for Regional Co-

operation (SAARC) in October 2004,

which specifies that SAARC countries can-

not opt for incineration and other unproven

technologies.

Resource recovery gaining groundThe ‘White Paper on Pollution in Delhi

with an Action Plan’ prepared by the Un-

ion Ministry of Environment and Forests

says, “The experience of the incineration

plant at Timarpur, Delhi and the briquette

plant at Bombay support the fact that ther-

mal treatment of municipal solid waste is

not feasible in situations where the waste

has a low calorific value. A critical analysis

of biological treatment as an option was un-

dertaken for processing of municipal solid

waste in Delhi and it has been recom-

mended that composting will be a viable

option. Considering the large quantities of

waste requiring to be processed, a mechani-

cal composting plant will be needed.”

Therefore, it is incumbent upon the

policy-makers to exclude waste, waste re-

sources, waste pelletisation, waste incinera-

tion, pyrolysis, gasification technologies from

qualifying as renewable energy or fuel and

also exclude renewable energy subsidy/loan

programmes for burn technology-based

WTE programmes and policies. The high-

cost routes must be avoided and instead only

appropriate methods such as small-scale bio-

methanation, composting and proper recy-

cling should be propagated.

Meanwhile, the Inter-ministerial Task

Force on Integrated Plant Nutrient Man-

agement has recommended setting up of

1,000 compost plants all over the country

and has allocated Rs 800 crore for the task.

It seems the fate of the present WTE policy

is sealed. Incentives and subsidies should

be offered in areas of ‘cold’ technologies

alone, which are suited to our country eco-

nomically, socially and also to our wastes.

The ideal resource management strat-

egy for Municpal Ssolid Waste is to avoid

its generation in the first place. This im-

plies changing production and consumption

patterns to eliminate the use of disposable,

non-reusable, non-returnable products and

packaging.

By Gopal Krishna


Sharps are among the most hazard-

ous wastes generated in healthcare

facilities. Consequently, their dis-

posal by these facilities has always been a

prickly issue.

Injections constitute the largest quantity

of infectious sharps generated during im-

munisation and curative practices. Due to

the risks associated with sharps, it is very

important to manage them properly and to

ensure that they do not endanger the lives

of healthcare workers and the community.

The disposal option chosen requires meticu-

lous planning, since sharps waste requires

space and does not degrade with time.

To analyse the different disposal options

available to hospitals in urban India, a docu-

mentation of 13 locations was carried out

by WHO. Srishti/ TL was also a part of

the documentation process in four centres.

Successful sharps management systems were

evaluated and alternative treatment and dis-

posal technologies were studied.

The disposal options which were evalu-

ated included needle cutters, chemical dis-

infection, autoclaving, microwaving, ad-

vanced autoclaves such as the hydroclave,

cement encapsulation and the use of pits.

The study evaluated the relevance of

these technologies within the current regu-

latory Health Care Waste Management

(HCWM) framework in India. Given the

nationwide introduction of Auto Disable

(AD) syringes for the immunisation pro-

gramme, the study also analysed the impli-

cations linked to their use and the possibili-

ties of re-processing the decontaminated

shredded plastic.

The findings of the study indicate that it

is of paramount importance to contain the

infectious sharps in puncture resistant con-

tainers, disinfect and to mutilate them at the

point of generation.

The methods that are used currently for

final disposal of sharps were not found to

be sustainable. Healthcare workers felt that

it is important to look into the option of

material recovery from the injection units.

By Ratna Singh

The full report can be downloaded at:

www.whosea.org/en/Section23_10305.htm

Safe management ofsharps waste

TOXICS FREE HEALTHCARE

As part of its Clean Campus Pro-

gramme, which aims to introduce

school-going children and college youth to

environmentally sound practices, Toxics

Link conducted a series of workshops in

Delhi schools to raise awareness regarding

mercury.

The schools included St Columba’s,

Green Fields, Salwan Public and Sister

Nivedita School. In all, more than 500

teachers, lab assistants and students partici-

pated in the workshops.

Children were shown

presentations on

the occurrence of

mercury in the en-

vironment, espe-

cially the school envi-

ronment, and its haz-

ards.

‘Mercury Teams’ have

been set up in these schools.

The teams, which consist of

teachers, lab assistants and

school children, are meant to

spread awareness about mercury

‘Mercury Teams’ to

monitor mercury usage

in Delhi schools

� In science and chemistry laboratories and classrooms:

Mercury thermometers, barometers, mercury compounds and elemental mercury.

Mercury is used historically in school’s laboratory. The laboratories may still have

containers of mercury or mercury compounds in storage.

� In classrooms and other facilities:

Mercury-containing thermostats, silent wall switches and fluorescent light bulbs.

� In medical rooms:

Thermometers and blood pressure measuring devices may contain several grams of

mercury. There are also certain nasal sprays and contact lens solutions that contain

thimerosal, phenylmercuric acetate, or, phenylmercuric nitrate. Topical disinfectants

contain mercurochrome or tincture of mertiolate. All these compounds have mercury in

them and have mercury-free alternatives.

Use of mercury in schools

and monitor its usage. Mecury, though a

highly hazardous chemical, is found exten-

sively in our schools, in science laborato-

ries, maintenance areas, medical rooms and

classrooms.

In fact, the next phase of the programme

will see a survey conducted with the the help

of the Mercury Teams to track the usage of

mercury. The survey will focus on mercury

management and handling procedures in the

schools and will also inventorise mercury-

containing equipment in the schools. This

programme will not only create awareness

but will also help the schools in proper man-

agement and handling of mercury.

Toxics Link also participated in the Eco-

fest at Indraprastha College, ‘Symposium

on Emerging Trends in Chemistry’ at

Hindu College and a four-day programme

from December 17-21 called ‘The Young

Visionary 2005’ organised by National Bal

Bhavan and the Tehelka Founda-

tion to spread awareness on the

issue.

It is hoped that the Clean

Campus Programme will re-

sult in sensitised children

who will make a big dif-

ference at the local and

community levels.

By Yamini Sharma

If you want your

school or college to be

a part of the Clean Campus

Programme, mail us at [email protected]


EEJP

A great beginning for EEJP

The Environmental Equity and Justice

Partnership (EEJP), a new initiative

of the Just Environment Charitable Trust,

received a great response to its first call.

After an intensive selection process, the

EEJP Board awarded grants to eight

NGOs under its Environmental Small

Grants Programme and eight fellowships

under the Environmental Fellowship Pro-

gramme. The list of awardees is available

at www.eejp.org.

The initiative was envisaged with the aim

of helping groups and individuals foster last-

ing improvement in the area of environmen-

tal justice by catalysing grassroots initiatives,

triggering new imagination and perspectives,

encouraging crossover linkages and provid-

ing greater opportunities to connect to envi-

ronmental thinking.

Upasana Choudhry

To find out more about the EEJP, please contact

Upasana Choudhry at [email protected]

Hithadoo Regional Hospital of the

Maldives recently partnered with

Toxics Link to formulate a mercury man-

agement policy, making it the first hospital

in the island nation to do so.

The protocol for mercury waste man-

agement has been approved by the hospital

administration and will be in effect after the

construction of the hazardous wastes stor-

age facility. Following are the highlights of

the adopted mercury protocol:

� Mercury containing compounds are to

be considered hazardous waste.

� The hospital will search for alternatives

to mercury-containing instruments.

� Mercury-based instruments will not be

used in carpeted rooms.

� Mercury spills from broken equipment

to be cleaned only by trained personnel

using appropriate equipment. Workers

in the area will secure the spill area and

make sure there is adequate ventilation.

� Waste mercury to be collected in clean

plastic containers with tight-fitting lids

and containing enough water to cover

the mercury to prevent its vapourisation.

� All containers of mercury waste will be

labeled ‘Waste Mercury – Hazardous

Waste’, and stored in a secure area. A

record of all such containers will be main-

tained till their final disposal.

� No mercury waste to be incinerated.

� Mercury fillings to be avoided in young

children, pregnant women and nursing

mothers. Mercury fillings not to be used

for people with kidney disorders and

those allergic to mercury.

� Mercury-free dental fillings to be used

wherever possible.

� Management of mercury waste to be part

of the training programme.

Hithadhoo Regional Hospital had par-

ticipated in a healthcare waste management

workshop titled ‘Consultation with friends

from Maldives’ in Bangalore in May, 2005

whcih was organised by the World Health

Organisation (WHO) and the Health Care

Waste Management (HCWM) Cell, De-

partment of Community Medicine, M.S.

Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore.

By Priti Mahesh

Mercury management in the

Maldives: Hithadhoo

Hospital takes the lead

The Christian Medical Association of

India (CMAI) and Toxics Link jointly

organised a two-day workshop in Kolkata

on November 25-26, 2005 titled ‘Consulta-

tive discussion on legal issues of hospitals.‘

Twenty-five healthcare professionals from

the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand

and Maharashtra attended the workshop.

The workshop was in response to the

new challenges faced by hospital adminis-

trators in the wake of heightened consumer

awareness and increased legislation that

governs hospitals.

The workshop was aimed at CEOs,

medical superintendents, administrators and

nursing superintendents of Christian hos-

pitals in the North, East and North-east-

ern regions. Toxics Link’s regional partner,

Society for Direct Initiative for Social and

Health Action (DISHA), also participated

in the workshop.

The first day was dedicated to Bio-medi-

cal Waste Management (BMW). Toxics

Link conducted various sessions aimed at

creating awareness about BMW and effec-

tive management of hospital waste.

Participants showed a great interest in

alternative technologies, disposal of sharps

and deep burial options for small towns.

Queries were also raised on waste-water

treatment issues. The presentation on mer-

cury was especially appreciated by all the

participants.

The second day focussed on legal is-

sues governing hospital registration, blood

banks, X-ray departments, pharmacy labo-

ratories, the Consumer Protection Act, In-

come Tax and FCRA, the Industrial Dis-

pute Act and various disciplinary proce-

dures.

Following the success of the workshop,

Toxics Link aims to strenghten its collabo-

ration with Christian Medical Association

of India. More such measures will be un-

dertaken to create awareness and build ca-

pacity of all stakeholders to improve the sta-

tus of Bio-medical Waste Management in

the country.

By Yamini Sharma and Priti Mahesh

CMAI and Toxics Link

hold a workshop on legal

issues covering hospital

administration

In order to build and strengthen the ca-

pacity of civil society organisations on the

issue of Persistent Organic Pollutants

(POPs), Toxics Link organised the first

‘NGOs South Asia Regional Capacity

Building Workshop on POPs’ from No-

vember 17-19, 2005 in New Delhi.

Civil society groups from five South

Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Ne-

pal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – along with

scientists, policy-makers, bilateral and mul-

tilateral funding agencies and UN agencies

from India participated in the workshop.

There were over 65 participants.

The workshop increased the awareness

Workshop on POPs for

South Asia NGOs

CHEMICALS AND HEALTH


COMMUNITIES AND WASTE

After successfully facilitating a commu-

nity-based solid waste management

project in Sarita Vihar, a middle-income

residential colony in South Delhi, Toxics

Link is now implementing waste manage-

ment projects in Defence Colony A-Block,

a higher middle-income group community

and in Gautampuri, Molarband, a lower-

income group community near Badarpur,

Delhi. The objective of the projects is to

create zero waste residential colonies and

to promote a sustainable community-based

zero waste management system.

The Defence Colony programme was

launched on June 22, 2005. Toxics Link is

involving 450 households of the colony to

develop a community-based decentralised

composting unit. The Communities and

Waste team of Toxics Link has brought to-

gether various stakeholders on the same plat-

form to develop better communication and

to foster a spirit of partenrship. The

stakeholders include the Residents Welfare

Association (RWA), residents, waste col-

lectors and sanitation staff of the Munici-

pal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for im-

plementing the waste management pro-

gramme. Regular meetings have resulted in

greater trust and have encouraged the vari-

Solid waste management gets

under way at Defence Colony

and Gautampuri

about POPs among various stakeholders,

especially grassroots organisations. The fo-

cus of the workshop was to understand the

status of POPs, discuss their impacts and

alternatives to them. The workshop also

provided a good opportunity to develop

cross-sectoral synergies.

The expanded interest and competence

in POPs-related issues is expected to result

in the ongoing involvement of these organi-

sations in the Stockholm Convention im-

plementation efforts.

The participants identified some of the

pollutants facing the region, such as DDT

(widely used for malaria control) and

dioxins and furans (unintended by-products

of industrial processes like pulp and paper

manufacture, metal smelting and medical

and municipal waste incineration or even

daily activities like open burning of PVC

coated copper wires).

The region does not have any reliable

facilities to even monitor or measure these

pollutants. Also, there is little or no data on

stockpiles of such used chemicals, despite

studies showing environmental and food

chain contamination in many places.

Such chemicals enter the human body

through the food chain and transmit inter-

generationally from mother to child, caus-

ing severe health effects like endocrine dis-

ruption, reproductive disorders and cancer.

The workshop was organised by Toxics

Link in its capacity as the South Asia Re-

gional Hub of the International POPs

Elimination Project (IPEP), a global ini-

tiative taken up by the International POPs

Elimination Network (IPEN), in partner-

ship with the United Nations Industrial De-

velopment Organisation (UNIDO) and

the United Nations Environment Pro-

gramme (UNEP) with core funding from

the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Upasana Choudhry

ous groups to work together towards long-

term sustainable development.

The programme was kicked off with an

orientation programme on solid waste man-

agement at the Junior Commissioned Of-

ficers’ (JCOs’) Club, A-Block, Defence

Colony on June 2, 2005. The orientation

programme dwelt upon the urgent need for

waste management and helped to develop

a consensus among the stakeholders regard-

ing their roles.

Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Commis-

sioner, Central Zone, MCD, promised all

possible support towards promoting the

programme.

Waste management at GautampuriToxics Link is partnering with Arpana

Trust Delhi Services for the Gautampuri

programme. The emphasis here is on door-

to-door waste collection, segregation of

waste and community-based decentralised

composting.

The door-to-door waste collection sys-

tem has been started with 1,000 households

out of a total of 2,000 households. Waste

management systems are new to residents

who were not aware about segregating dry

and wet waste. For the purpose, Toxics Link

and Arpana Trust are organising a variety

of activities ranging from door-to-door meet-

ings, cluster meetings, awareness generation

programmes, rallies and school pro-

grammes. The aim is to bring together Self

Help Groups (SHGs), residents, school

children, key persons of the community and

waste collectors onto a common platform.

Cluster meeting on Solid Waste Management at Gautampuri

Stakeholders’ panel discussion at the workshop.


Toxics Link is also strengthening the com-

munity’s linkage with the MCD sanitation

staff so that cleaning of dhalaos and drain-

age takes place on a regular basis.

In both the programmes, extensive dis-

tribution of educational material has resulted

in heightened awareness about relevant is-

sues. Calendars for 2005, emphasising the

importance of source segregation and speci-

fying elements that fall under the category

of recyclable and organic waste, have been

circulated among the residents. Also, a

door-to-door awareness campaign on impor-

tance of source segregation has been under-

taken in both communities.

The Communities and Waste team has

also distributed posters on segregation of

waste, leaflets in Hindi titled ‘Kooda Kahan

Se Aaye Aur Kooda Kahan Jaye,’ and fly-

ers in English on ‘How to become a Zero

Waste Community by implementing Su-

preme Court rulings on waste management’.

By Mohammad Tariq

In its ongoing effort of regional level ca-

pacity building of civil society groups, in-

stitutions and individuals on the issues of

bio-medical and municipal solid waste man-

agement, Toxics Link organised a ‘Regional

Workshop on Bio-medical and Municipal

Waste Management’ at Lucknow on Au-

gust 23-24, 2005.

The objective was to facilitate discussions

and exchange information regarding com-

prehensive urban solid waste and medical

waste management practices in the north-

ern states of UP, Bihar and Uttaranchal.

The issue of Persistent Organic Pollutants

(POPs) was also introduced.

Forty-five individuals representing gov-

ernment, NGOs, professionals and practi-

tioners on waste management of the three

states participated in the workshop.

Vinod Malhotra, Principal Secretary,

Environment Department of Uttar Pradesh,

gave the inaugural address. He thanked the

environmental organisations and NGOs for

being largely responsible for the awareness

created in the areas of bio-medical waste

management. He lamented that hospitals

were quickly turning into places for ‘con-

tracting diseases’. He felt that waste man-

agement was an important issue for the re-

gion and expressed his concern regarding

hospitals that were not authorised.

S.K. Singh, Chief Environmental Of-

ficer, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control

Board (UPPCB), focussed on the waste

status in the region and the technology of

bio-medical waste management. He also

highlighted the role of the private sector in

this matter. He felt that though incineration

was accepted as a modern technology suit-

able for treatment of bio-medical waste,

other available technologies such as

autoclaving should be looked at since incin-

eration causes health and environment haz-

ards through toxic emission and ash.

Dr Pratima of the Himalayan Institute

Hospital (HIHT), Dehradun, in her pres-

entation revealed that the hospital has shut

down its incinerator, which not only saves

cost but also prevents environmental pollu-

Three northern states hold

regional workshops on

bio-medical and municipal

waste management

Top: Chandra Bhushan, Deputy

Commissioner, Central Zone, MCD,

addressing members of the Defence Colony

community.

Above: Members of RWA Defence Colony and

Toxics Link inaugurating the solid waste

management programme.

tion. She shared details of the current waste

management practices within the hospital

and the necessary follow-ups that were re-

quired to reach the present stage. The hos-

pital has an effective waste management

committee, which is responsible for surveil-

lance and training within the hospital.

The workshop also saw discussions on

bio-medical waste rules, mercury in health

care and aspects of bio-medical waste man-

agement. During the discussions it also came

to light that Uttar Pradesh does not have

any advisory body, which is mandatory un-

der Bio-medical Waste Management Rules

of 1998. Ravi Agarwal of Toxics Link

raised his concern on the absence of an ad-

visory committee. He also mentioned that

the government is wrongly giving subsidies

to Waste to Energy (WTE) plants and ig-

noring other important aspects of segrega-

tion, collection, transportation and

composting. This has led to investments in

setting up of WTEplants.

Two presentations on POPs were also

made by Toxics Link team members.

The two-day workshop ended with key

recommendations made by the participants.

They have largely opined that the region

has very grave problems on both bio-medi-

cal and solid waste issues. Participants also

raised their concern over the absence of

medical institutions and hospitals in the

workshop, despite the fact that they were

invited well before the scheduled dates.

Participants also recognised the importance

of NGOs as an action group for the region.

Following key recommendations were made

in the end:

� Share information regularly.

� Make material available in local lan-

guage for large-scale awareness genera-

tion.

� Hold more small-scale low-cost work-

shops/meetings at the regional level.

� Form a regional level group from the

participating NGOs.

� Develop and share resources through

networking.

The workshop had some immediate

positive outcomes, of which the important

one was the issuing of notices to two large

healthcare facilities at Lucknow: King

George Medical College and Sanjay Gan-

dhi Post Graduate Institute, for not manag-

ing their waste properly.

By Prashant Pastore


Mumbai-based Consumer Welfare As-

sociation, a non-governmental or-

ganisation, has filed a Public Interest Liti-

gation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court

to address the issue of bio-medical waste

(BMW) management in Mumbai.

Filed in July 2005, the PIL states that

the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpora-

tion’s (BMC’s) reluctance to take firm ac-

tion against the growing menace of mishan-

dling of bio-medical waste is playing havoc

with the health of the city’s residents. Ac-

tivist A.M. Mascarenhas, who filed the pe-

tition, said that improper handling and dis-

posal of BMW is causing the spread of HIV

and hepatitis B/C viruses.

In the petition, the BMC and the

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board

(MPCB) have been asked to construct in-

PIL filed in Mumbai onBio-medical Waste

The fourth regional workshop on mu-

nicipal and bio-medical waste manage-

ment was organised in Bhopal on February

24-25, 2006. The two-day event saw the

participation of delegates from the states of

Madhya Pradesh, Jharkand, Orissa and

Chattisgarh.

The workshop aimed at creating a com-

mon platform for Pollution Control Boards

(PCBs), municipalities, healthcare insti-

tutes, grassroot NGOs and individuals as-

sociated with solid waste and medical waste.

so that they can share their skills and de-

velop a wider understanding of practices on

waste management in the region.

The first day of the workshop was dedi-

cated to bio-medical waste issues and the

second day focussed on municipal solid

waste management. Apart from these two

issues, the workshop also touched upon is-

sues related to Persistent Organic Pollut-

ants (POPs).

For more information, contact:

[email protected]

Kathmandu University (KU) and De-

velopment Network (DNet) organ-

ised an ‘International Conference for a Bet-

ter Tomorrow – Sustainable Solid Waste

Management in Developing Countries’ in

Kathmandu, Nepal from January 8-13,

2006. The conference was organised in

close cooperation with Kalmar University,

LAQUA Group and International Foun-

dation of Science (IFS).

The aim of the conference was to im-

prove MSW management through strength-

ening scientific capacity, developing network

and partnership, promoting research and

developing local technologies.

Toxics Link made a presentation on

‘Toxics Free Healthcare: A case for phas-

ing out of mercury’ at the conference.

By Priti Mahesh

WHO has released a policy on mercury usage in healthcare insitutions. The policy goes

beyond public healthcare, and depends on a country’s governmental systems, such as

the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Welfare, and the municipalities, as they have an

important role to play. This document also proposes short-, medium- and long-term

strategies to cope with the challenges of mercury exposure faced in many developing

countries.

For more information, visit www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/medicalwaste/

mercurypolpaper.pdf

By Ratna Singh

WHO policy on mercury

Workshop on bio-medicaland municipal solid wastemanagement in Bhopal

Conference on sustainableMSW management indeveloping countries

cinerators in all hospitals/nursing homes

which have more than 50 beds, citing the

reason that the existing guidelines published

by the Central Pollution Control Board

(CPCB) are not followed.

In the affidavit, the MPCB has informed

the court that it has directed the local body

to set up four BMW incinerators in

Mumbai. According to the MPCB affida-

vit, a final report has been prepared and

the new incinerators are expected to be built

in the east, west, north and south parts of

the city, each capable of handling waste gen-

erated by about 10,000 beds. MPCB offi-

cials said that the techno-environmental vi-

ability will be checked and the facilities will

use MPCB licensed transporters to bring

in the waste.

Currently, the city’s 1,271 hospitals with

31,455 beds are linked to a single BMW

management facility at the GTB hospital

at Sewree. It is capable of handling 5,500

kg whereas 8,000 kg of waste is generated

daily. The remainder is mixed with the mu-

nicipal solid waste. There have also been

reports of the Sewree incinerator not func-

tioning. The garbage has not been segre-

gated and there is a shortage of vehicles to

transport the waste.

The PIL also seeks the formation of an

advisory committee consisting of experts in

the fields of medicine, health, environment

and citizen’s groups which will advice the

MPCB on implementing the CPCB rules

on BMW. The key is that MPCB must

work closely with hospitals and their asso-

ciations to reduce the quantity of waste gen-

erated.

By Kishore Wankhade


NURSES’ BOOKLETA handy pocket-sized

booklet titled ‘Towards a

safer workplace’ has been

published by Toxics Link.

The booklet is aimed at the

nursing staff which plays a

critical role in implementing

the bio-medical waste management system

of a hospital.

‘Bindas’, our spokesperson on waste

issues, informs nurses about the potential

hazards in their workplace and how to take

due precautions. The booklet covers issues

of sharps management, waste segregation,

disinfection, treatment of chemicals such as

mercury and glutaraldehyde and the

importance of accident reporting.

In the booklet, Bindas stresses the

importance of safe handling, collection,

storage, treatment and disposal of bio-

medical waste.

POSTER:WARD KI SAFAIAAP KISURAKSHAThe housekeeping

staff of a hospital is

often left out during

training sessions

pertaining to bio-

medical waste

management.

Toxics Link has

released a poster in Hindi titled ‘Ward ki safai

aap ki suraksha’.

The poster focusses on various Do’s and

Don’ts regarding handling of waste in a

hospital and stresses the use of protective

gear such as gloves, shoes and masks.

For more information and to obtain your

copies, contact [email protected]

Samuha Vikas was initiated by a

group of trained like-minded pro-

fessionals working in Gram Vikas, a pre-

mier institute of Orissa working in the

development field for the last three dec-

ades. Samuha Vikas was registered in

1992, and started field-based activities

in 1994.

The organisation’s mission is to start

a sustainable process of intervention that

will facilitate a dignified quality of life

for the weaker sections of society and will

enable them to participate in the main-

stream development process through

collective action and skill development.

It also aims to institutionalise people’s

organisation for management of their

own resource base such as land, water,

forest, credit, livestock, social infrastruc-

ture, human resources and environment.

The ultimate goals are sustained liveli-

hood, eco-friendly environment and a

gender-balanced society.

The organisation has taken up activi-

ties related to an alternative banking sys-

tem, an integrated tribal development

programme, and livelihood and environ-

ment concerns along with the issue of

air and water pollution caused in the area

of operation by Oswal Chemicals and

Fertilisers Ltd. It has also taken up re-

lief and rehabilitation work at the time

of natural disasters.

Samuha Vikas is one of the recipi-

ents of the 2005 Environmental Small

Grants awarded by the Environmental

Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP).

Samuha has proposed a 12-month

project to promote environmental equity

and protection of industrial pollution in

Jagatsingpur and Kendrapara districts

of Orissa.

The project area is under serious

threat from water and air pollution due

to the existing and newly proposed fac-

tories in the area, along with the deple-

tion of mangrove forests.

The project aims to create awareness

among the people on environmental eq-

uity and the impact of industrial pollu-

tion on their lives and livelihoods. The

objective is to institutionalise people’s

organisations, Panchayati Raj Institu-

tions (PRI) and the Eco-Task Force to

address environmental equity and pol-

lution issues in a coordinated manner.

Establishing proper linkages among peo-

ple’s organisations, the Eco-Task Force,

Disaster Preparedness Groups, the Pol-

lution Control Board and the district ad-

ministration for mitigation of the issues

in a sustainable manner is another ob-

jective of the programme.

The activities proposed include:

� A detailed study of environment and

pollution issues of the villages situ-

ated along the 480 km coastline.

� Capacity building of people’s organi-

sations and PRI.

� Formation and strengthening of an

Eco Task Force with legal education

on environmental issues and pollu-

tion control.

� Organising village-level workshops

and district level campaigns.

� Development of IEC materials to cre-

ate awareness.

� Legal measures on restriction of

prawn cultivation on coast lines.

� Developing linkages between the

Pollution Control Boards and new

factories for installing pollution-free

safety measures.

For more details, contact:

Radhakanta DasSecretary, Samuha VikasPost Office Bahadajhola,District NayagarhOrissa 752082E-mail: [email protected]

Samuha Vikas, Orissa

The French warship Le Clemenceau

renewed media interest on the toxicity of

ship-breaking and associated occupa-

tional hazards. We present here some

ground realities about the ship-breaking

industry:

� Up to the 1970s, ship-breaking was

done in Europe but as the costs of

environmental safety increased, the

operation moved to poorer Asian

countries.

� Approximately 600-700 large sea

vessels are brought to the harbours of

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and

Turkey for breaking.

� Most of the ships that are being

scrapped now were built before the

banning of many toxic substances. These

hazardous wastes are now released on

Asian beaches, polluting the environment.

� Heavy metals such as asbestos,

chromium, mercury, lead and arsenic are

FACT FILE

etoxics groupToxics Link coordinates an electronic

discussion group for sharing and

disseminating information on toxic

wastes and its management. If you

would like to join the group, please e-

mail us at [email protected]

Designed by Splash! Communications, e-mail [email protected] by Vishwajyoti Ghosh

found in paints, coatings, anodes and

electrical equipment of ships. These parts

are often dumped on or burnt in the ship-

breaking yards, causing widespread

pollution of the area.

� The ‘ballast water’ that is intentionally

brought on board ships in order to adjust

their stability is released in these yards.

This water pollutes the coastal area with

oil, biocides and heavy metals.

� In India, there are three ship-breaking

yards – in Alang and Pipavav in Gujarat,

and Mumbai in Maharashtra. The

Government of Andhra Pradesh has given

permission for a mega ship-breaking

project at Vodarevu.

� It has been found that about one in

four workers in Alang suffer from cancer.

� Worldwide, more than 100,000

workers face the hazards of ship-breaking

without any protective gear such as

shoes, gloves or masks.

� Under an amendment of the Basel

Convention, passed in October 2004, the

ships to be broken cannot leave a country

without permission of the importing state.

Moreover, the signatories to the treaty

must assure that ship-breaking is

performed in an environmentally sound

manner.Compiled by Sejuti Sarkar De

Source: www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak

Quotes from the Earth is a compilation of films on the themes of Hunger, Water and

Survival. Films can be borrowed for screening against a nominal security deposit.

Entries are invited for the forthcoming film festival on November 3-5, 2006.

View the details at www.toxicslink.org/filmfestival/.

If you have suggestions or require

information, please contact:

Toxics Link – Delhi

H2 (Ground Floor)

Jungpura Extension

New Delhi 110 014

T:+91-(0)11-24328006, 24320711

E: [email protected]

Toxics Link – Mumbai

Garage No 2, Plot No 4,

Baba Nanak Sahib Cooperative

Housing Society Ltd,

Laxmi Colony, RC Marg, Chembur,

Mumbai 400 074


Toxics Link – Chennai

8, Fourth Street

Venkateswara Nagar

Adyar

Chennai 600 020

T: +91-(0)44-24914358, 24460387


I: www.toxicslink.org

Toxics Link is an initiative of the

Just Environment Charitable Trust


Ship-breaking facts

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